The Boston Celtics were going to be extremely shorthanded for their game against the Miami Heat on Sunday night. On their official injury report, the Celtics listed a total of nine players as out against the Heat. Seven of those absences — Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown, Tristan Thompson, Semi Ojeleye, Grant Williams, Robert Williams, and Javonte Green — are due to players being placed in the league’s health and safety protocols amid the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. Tatum and Robert Williams both reportedly tested positive for the virus. Two other players — Kemba Walker and Romeo Langford — were set to be out due to injury issues. 

With all of those players sidelined, the Celtics would have only had eight players available to suit up against the Heat on Sunday. Those eight players are Tacko Fall, Aaron Nesmith, Payton Pritchard, Marcus Smart, Daniel Theis, Tremont Waters, Carsen Edwards, and  Jeff Teague. 

While the league was planning to allow for the Celtics to move forward and play tonight’s game with that eight-man roster, Shams Charania of The Athletic is reporting that the game has been postponed after an unidentified Heat player returned an inconclusive COVID-19 test leaving Miami with less than the league-mandated eight available players to compete due to contact tracing. 

Despite the postponement, Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN.com is reporting that the league has no plans to pause the season at this time even though rosters throughout the league have been thinning because of COVID-19 protocols in several places.